Inventor wins major award for training knife

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/09/2009 (5853 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

JEFF Quail, inventor of a knife-shaped electronic device used for edged-weapon defence training, has won a prestigious Manning Innovation Award.

It is only the fourth time a Manitoban has received a Manning award in the 27 years they have been presented. It comes with a $10,000 prize.

The Shocknife has become a favoured device among law enforcement trainers around the world with sales of $1 million expected this year and customers in 20 countries.

When a trainee is struck with the blade the specially designed electronic device delivers a sensation of actually being cut with a knife.

At its lowest level the sensation is like a paper cut. At its strongest setting it feels like you have been cut to the bone with a butcher knife.

Quail, 40, a police officer and an expert in use of force and officer safety, came up with the idea when he was a police academy trainer himself.

"When I started doing edged-weapon training I realized there was nothing adequate available to prepare trainees for such an encounter," Quail said.

In particular, he said, there was nothing that could simulate the acute stress of such a real-life encounter.

He figured a searing electric shock that feels like getting cut might take care of that.

The Ernest C. Manning Awards Foundation rewards Canadians who have demonstrated recent innovative talent in developing and successfully marketing a new concept, process or procedure.

Two innovation awards are given out each year reserved for those without the benefit of research facilities or advanced education in the field of their innovation.

The winners of this year’s $100,000 principal award and the $25,000 award of distinction will be announced early in September and will all be presented at a gala event in Vancouver on Sept. 18.

Calgary biomedical engineer Brent King won the other $10,000 innovation award for a device to accurately and securely position a surgical patient’s limb.

Quails’ business partner, Rory Bochinski, said when Quail first brought the idea to him he figured there would not be a lot of marketing required.

"And he was right," Bochinski said. "When we take the Shocknife to trade shows, the trainers get it right away."

He said that the training experience in the past had been that the trainees would try to grab the knife and disarm the "assailant."

In real life, however, that might often result in serious injury or worse.

The Manning Foundation said the development of the Shocknife means "the training environment is more realistic and officers and soldiers are better prepared to survive and win any future edged-weapon attack."

Bochinski who taught a specialized entrepreneurship program at River East Collegiate for 10 years, before being Quail’s partners said, "Jeff deserves a lot of credit. Many people may come up with good ideas, but Jeff went into his workshop and pulled the guts out of a cattle prod and attached it to a two-by-four and really did it."

More than 500 agencies in 20 countries now use the device, which is made entirely in Winnipeg and has been on the market since 2005. Versions sell for between $269 and $499.

In addition to making and selling the knife, a sister company also provides training for the trainers.

Quail will be on a plane for Europe on Tuesday where he will be training law enforcement and military officials in Spain and Switzerland for a number of customers throughout Europe.

 

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca

Shocknife

testimonials

 

In the Feb. ’08 issue of Black Belt Magazine, Sgt. Wagner, a police and military defensive tactics instructor, wrote, "When I see how the average martial arts instructor does a knife disarm, I feel sorry for him because most of the techniques simply don’t work… Those daring moves end as soon as the Shocknife enters the picture."

 

In the winter ’07 issue of Tactical Gear Magazine, Deputy Jay Schroda, defensive tactics instructor with the Wood County Wisconsin Sheriff’s Department wrote, "The electric shock component really does make people afraid of this knife… They really start to focus on the blade and will therefore focus on the training, too."

 

The Shocknife won best of show award out of 1,950 exhibitors at the 2008 Shot Show, the largest trade show for the shooting, hunting and outdoor industry, selected by Steve Gibson, publisher/editor of 24/7 Cop to Cop News